


'Till Death do us Part

by kilobyte



Series: Alone Together [2]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Fake AH Crew, GTA! au, Immortal Fake AH Crew, M/M, Mentions of other characters - Freeform, Mild Language, Platonic Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-09
Updated: 2017-12-09
Packaged: 2019-02-12 16:10:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12963204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kilobyte/pseuds/kilobyte
Summary: It had always been him and Ryan against the world, and Ray had never thought about how one day his best friend would just be gone. Until reality punched him hard in the face.





	'Till Death do us Part

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rororat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rororat/gifts).



> Oh man this has been a long time coming.  
> About a year ago I got one of the sweetest comments on one of my stories (the one-shot this one-shot/companion piece branches off from) that inspired this one. It’s been sitting in the back of my brain for well over a year and a half as a rough idea, and since my writing inspiration randomly decided to come back the other day (right as exam season started of course), and gave me the final ideas I needed to actually put this to paper, I finally wrote this out. So to that lovely commenter, this is dedicated to you.  
> I hope you all enjoy! Feel free to leave a comment below with any feedback you may have, I’m always excited to see feedback of any kind. :)  
> \- kilobyte

    Ray had never really thought about Ryan dying before.

It wasn’t something he wanted to think about. What normal person wakes up in the morning and immediately thinks “Ah yes, today is the day I will decide my opinions on how I feel about my best friend’s imminent death”? No one wants to think about the day that their loved ones die. It’s something that people repress and try to avoid.

For Ray, avoiding the topic was easier for him than most. Almost everyone in the Fake AH Crew was immortal; they would live the rest of their lives like kings. Gods among men. Yet Ryan had never died. In fact, the most he’d ever been injured was a bullet graze or a few broken bones, and every time Ryan came back with any sort of injury Ray wanted to cry out and he would almost have a heart attack. 

So he didn’t think about how one day, there was a high probability that Ryan would die; he would never open his eyes again. Never hold Ray in his arms when they woke in the morning. Never laugh at his cheesy jokes. Never tousle his hair in a loving way when he walked past the couch. Never hear his voice or see his smile.

He didn’t think about how one day Ryan would just be gone.

Until reality punched him hard in the face.

* * *

 

Ray had always enjoyed feeling Ryan’s hand in his. Ryan always had a way of reassuring Ray with his grip. He’d hold his hand firm, and gently squeeze it when he knew Ray was distressed. 

But when his clammy hand tried to reassure Ray on his deathbed, all it did was make Ray more distressed.

Ray knew Ryan didn’t have much time left. The blood loss combined with a bullet through his lung had to be horrendously painful, and Ray wasn’t sure how Ryan was still holding on. Yet, when Ryan said he was fine with being put out of his misery Ray found that he couldn’t agree. He couldn’t say no to losing precious time with his closest friend. Not when he was going to die and leave Ray alone for, potentially, the rest of eternity.

Especially when Ryan confessed that he didn’t regret their time together. Their years all on their own, fending off the rest of the world with only the other by their side. They were practically brothers, having forged their paths together. 

Ray didn’t know who he was without Ryan.

So, when that gunshot sounded, he panicked.

He heard someone screaming, and it took him a moment to realize it was him. He shook Ryan’s arm until he was sure it was going to fly off. He sobbed as he clung to Ryan’s arm, staring at his closed eyes and bloodied forehead until something in him snapped. He swore he felt himself yanking away from Michael’s comforting arm on his shoulder as he turned and fled from the apartment. Running to the only place he could think of.

* * *

 

Ryan didn’t know why he asked Jack to bring him back to the penthouse.

In theory, the infirmary made the most sense. Even if Ryan could tell he didn’t have much time left (he was already struggling to breathe), they would have to bring his body there after he passed.  _ If _ he passed, that is. He knew he was going to die, yet he didn’t know for how long. It was an almost terrifying thought, not knowing whether or not he’d be opening his eyes for the last time. Despite this, with a shaky voice he told Jack to bring him to penthouse, because he knew Ray would be there. 

    He wanted to, at the very least, give him a chance to say goodbye.

    He had no regrets lying there on that couch. He didn’t regret saving his friend (even knowing that Jack would live and he perhaps wouldn’t), and he didn’t regret living his life the way he had. He would never regret saving Ray from the suffering he endured in that church, would never regret living his days with him. Never regret loving him.

    So when he closed his eyes one last time and waited for the bullet to pass through his skull, he felt as though he was at peace.

    Then he was dead.

* * *

 

    He suddenly found himself opening his eyes and gasping for air. His lungs felt stronger than they had when he last closed his eyes, and he found himself slightly disoriented. He was heaving and enjoying the feeling of cold air entering his lungs when he felt a hand clasp his shoulder, and a voice coming through his ears.

    “Welcome back to the land of the living buddy.”

    “What- what happened?” Ryan gasped and he saw Geoff smiling above him. 

    “You died,” Geoff stated, and if Ryan hadn’t known that this was a possibility he probably would’ve had a heart attack. “Yet here you are.”

    “Right.” Ryan found himself slowly remembering what happened as his breathing slowed. The rush back to the penthouse. Lying on the couch, waiting for his time to come. Holding Ray’s hand in his own as he said goodbye.

    Ray, he remembered with a jolt. He turned his head to the side and yet he wasn’t kneeling by his side anymore. In fact, he wasn’t anywhere in the penthouse’s living room.

    “Where’s Ray?” Ryan said as he sat up, groaning a bit as he did so. He met eyes with Michael, who looked a bit sheepish.

    “We don’t know.” Michael admitted. “He ran out of here in a fit about ten minutes ago.”

    “You took longer to come back since you had so many injuries. Took longer for you to heal.” Jack explained. “Ray’s never really experienced that, so he probably panicked when you hadn’t come back right away.”

    “Did anyone see which way he went?” Ryan asked as he began to stand, noticing how his blood-soaked shirt clung to his chest. He’d have to change before he left, which would only leave Ray alone for longer than he’d already like.

    “I saw him from the window,” Gavin spoke up from where he was lounging on the living room’s other couch. “Looked like he was heading east of here.” Ryan thought for a moment before realizing where his friend was going. He nodded quickly and gave a small smile. 

    “Thanks. I’ll go find him.” Jack smiled back and handed him a black t-shirt and his jacket. 

    “Glad to have you back.”

* * *

 

    Ryan should’ve known right away that this is where Ray would have ran to.

    Pulling up to the church on his motorcycle, he stared at the building with a reminiscent stare. This was where their adventure started; where their lives came together and where they had become the duo they now were. 

    Ryan hadn’t been happy when he’d been brought here. He'd been found on the streets when he was 10. His mother had passed a few months before and he was all alone, doing everything he could to get by on his own. He’d been dragged to the church by some policemen in the pouring rain, saying it was better to be off the streets where he could ‘get hurt’.

    He must’ve not known what happened behind the closed doors of the church then, because when he walked out into that garden a few months later he knew what he had to do. That boy lying on the ground, the one who tried to justify the atrocities happening in his life by saying it was normal broke his heart and called out to him. This boy wasn't safe here.  


    So he vowed to protect him. And Ray became the only thing worth living for.

    Walking through the halls of the church he arrived to the doors of the gardens, and he saw Ray kneeling on the ground next to the bench where they first met. Right next to the rose patch where their adventure began. Ryan found his eyes becoming cloudy as he smiled at the memory, as bittersweet of one as it was.

    Opening the door, he walked into the garden, he heard Ray crying quietly to himself, his face buried in the crooks of his elbows. Ryan came up behind him and sat down beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder. He felt Ray tense beside him, and he heard a quiet sniffle. 

    “I don’t know who you are, but I don’t really care,” Ray said quietly, his voice weak and raspy. “I’m not really in a sociable mood.”

    “I wouldn’t expect you to be,” Ryan answered, and Ray’s head shot up and turned to face Ryan. “I know I was a wreck the first time you passed.”

    “Ryan!” Ray cried and swung his arms around Ryan’s neck, pulling him into an embrace. Ryan embraced him as well, holding the shaking man in his arms. “I swore- I thought you were gone, and I couldn’t- Fuck Ryan you were  _ dead _ !”

    “Hey, it’s okay.” The older man comforted, running his hands up and down the younger’s back. “I remember how it felt, even if it was only for a minute.” The two sat there for a few moments, just remembering how it felt to be in each other’s grip, before Ray suddenly jumped back and punched Ryan hard on the arm. “Hey! What was that for?” Ryan exclaimed and Ray frowned.

    “For _dying_ asshole! In the stupidest way possible too!” Ray yelled. “You jumped in front of Jack, a man we know fully well can  _ come back from the dead, _ yet your noble ass just had to go ‘Ah no, I gotta’ save him, even though my ass may die for real’. Do you realize how dumb that was?”  


    “I can admit, it wasn’t my smartest moment,” Ryan admitted sheepishly. “But I jumped on instinct, and I’d rather it be me who gets hurt rather than any of you,” He cupped Ray’s cheek in his palm. “Especially you.”

    “You’re horrible, you know that right?” Ray asked as a tear slipped from his eye, and Ryan smiled.

    “Yeah, I know.” Ryan smiled. Pressing a kiss to Ray’s forehead, he wrapped his arms back around the younger man’s torso and pulled Ray back into his embrace. “But I’ve got you and that’s all that matters.”

    “It’s forever now.” Ray mumbled, and that made Ryan’s smile grow even wider. 

    “Yeah buddy. Not even death can tear us apart now.”

* * *

_ “I can move mountains _

_ I can work a miracle, work a miracle _

_ I'll keep you like an oath _

_ ‘May nothing but death do us part…’” _

_ \- Uma Thurman, Fall Out Boy _

**Author's Note:**

> Review?  
> \- kilobyte


End file.
